Setting:

In the first few shot of the video we can see the sea, palm trees and what appears to be a Ferris wheel shot close up. We can also see Lana dancing on the beach, a concrete pier, a low flying helicopter and seagulls flying around. This makes it fairly obvious that the video is shot in coastal location and while the exact whereabouts are unknown we can assume that they’re in California as the title of the song, ‘West Coast’, would suggest. This setting fits the song perfectly as the song is mainly about the west coast of America and California itself is well known or its alternative style as it’s very laidback and usually considered very classically cool which fits with the alternative genre of the song.

 

During the chorus we can see Lana and a man in the back of a convertible car at night. We don’t get much context, as the shot is cropped quite close so we can only really see Lana’s face but we can see that the camera is slightly shaky and the background is moving past them at a constant rate. We can see lights in the background and what appears to be more palm trees in shadow behind them. The setting is quite a harsh contrast to the rest of the video and makes us question why she’s there and who the man she’s with is. We could say that Lana set up the first portion with a stereotypical alternative style so she could change it up for the chorus and show her signature style of alternative which usually is a much more glamorous take on the alternative style.

 

Editing:

We can see that the whole video is black and white except for a few shots towards the end where we see Lana in a red dress with fire surrounding her. The pace of editing is relatively slow throughout the song except for on the drum breakdown, which features a quick cut to waves or rapid cuts to close cropped scenes with more intense action in them. Generally the editing matches the pace of the song and usually has a cut whenever the snare drum is hit.  However, this rule is broken a lot and quite often a cut comes right after a beat or awkwardly in-between them. This gives the video a home-made feel which fits the alternative theme really well. Some of the shots are either edited or shot in quite a low quality with lots of grain and a low frame rate which also has the same effect as a homemade video which also compliments the alternative genre.

 

This style of editing is used through the chorus as well and the only time the black and white is changed is towards the end of the video as a rather harsh synthesiser is introduced in the chorus at the end of the song and a Lana appears in red dress surrounded by fire.  The fire effect is superimposed over clips over video clips we saw earlier in the video. However, these clip are shown in a different light and we mainly see people passed out, shots of the palm trees with bridges and roads crossing them, an extreme close up of an eye looking quite scared with fire in the iris and Lana falling into the crashing waves by the coast. We burning these clips we saw earlier could be a metaphor for how life on the west coast isn’t what it’s crocked up to be and critiques the lifestyle of the stereotypical alternative crowd. Not to mention the fact that the sudden introduction of colour and more intense, superimposed images creates a lot of visual interest which would hopefully keep the viewer entertained and hopefully encourage them to watch more of Lana’s videos.

 

Camera and Lighting:

Throughout the video we can see that it’s shot quite close and often cuts out a lot of detail from the scene and means the camera has to move to keep up with what’ going on in the scenes. For example, the shots of the palm trees often just show the tops of them and nothing else which usually results in us just seeing silhouettes against a grey sky. Also, the video is shot with quite a low depth of field in some places meaning we don’t get much detail in the images. However, this means the focus of the video is on the particular subjects and their actions such as dancing and singing which engages the viewer very effectively.  

 

The same effect is used in the car when she’s in the car with her gentleman friend. A shallow depth of field and quite a close crop puts you in the scene and makes the video much more interesting to watch as you have a real connection with Lana. This helped by the Lana often looking directly into the camera and the shaky effect which helps to make the car ride seem more ‘real’. Also, the shallow depth of field means that the lights in the background form complete circles which is undoubtedly a pretty effect and adds to the overall look of the video.

 

The combination of the shallow depth of field and the close crop gives the video quite an ‘arty’ or homemade effect which is fairly typical of the alternative genre. We could also say that using these elements in this way gives the viewer a sense of involvement or intimacy as that’s how they’d see what’s going on if they were actually there. The shallow depth of field is fairly common convention in music videos which is usually only used on vocal portions of the song to draw attention to the singer. However, this video has twisted the convention and used a shallow depth of field in a unique was which creates a lot of visual interest and helps the video to stand of from the crowd in terms of camera use.

 

Mise en scene:

In terms of mise en scene this video is quite a typical representation of the alternative genre. From the start of the video we can see that the lighting is quite dim, we see people in leather jackets, white t-shirts and jeans, and we see drinking, smoking and what appears to be drug use in the first few shots of the video. These items and activities are all usually considered quite alternative so it makes sense to take advantage of the stereotype so that the video can make an immediate statement. I personally feel the video opens in stereotypically alternative way so that a contrast can be set up between the usual alternative and Lana’s take on alternative which we see in the chorus.

 

During the chorus we see Lana sat in the back of what appears to a convertible car at night with an older gentleman. She’s wearing expensive looking jewellery, a silk dress and is playfully sharing a cigarette with what appears to be her boyfriend. The cigarette is the only thing taken from the previous scene which is still fairly typical of alternative videos but the rest of the scene is fairly new and isn’t indicative of the alternative genre. This imagery gives us a much more glamorous feel to earlier in the video which contrasts rather heavily with it and keeps the viewer interested in the video. Furthermore, the introduction of a new character to video raises a few questions, who is he, why is she with him, what is their relationship? The introduction of new elements and raising questions keeps the viewer interested which makes them much more likely to watch the whole video to find answers.